Advent of Darkness
Advent of Darkness was the 42nd session of the Daevenfell campaign, and the third session of Chapter 8: Apotheosis. Resistance, Drow & Coterie summary Oleg once again finds himself inside the body of Hvalnus Vinroris, the old druid now twisted beyond belief. The Coterie has reached the Citadel, and it's only a matter of hours before they realize it's already been evacuated. He transforms into an ancient white dragon and surveys the city, and tries to claim he sees people running into hiding, to buy time. Cocktail doesn't buy it. He accuses Oleg/Vinroris of lying, and when Oleg tries to magically charm Haldrahin Elthoriel into backing him up, but fails, the Coterie, along with a massive host of demons, turn on the old druid. Oleg awakens with a terrible thirst. He's been asleep for a week, but Valzmar has been watching over him. Now he craves water, and heads outside into the snow. Meanwhile, the Drow have returned with an army of 62 skeletons, and Ridqeck is almost done renovating the ship. Others are hard at work finishing sleds for the ones who won't fit on the ship, and Heather has brought what remains of their resources – enough for 24 days. Ycaron, meanwhile, has an idea. Along with Yorick and Quintillion, he approaches Oleg, who is face deep in the snow. The Drow try to convince him into using his position with the demonic Coterie to lure them to the Domed City, making their enemies fight it out among themselves, leaving Drow and Resistance to pick up the pieces. Quintillion spots Junior, invisibly listening in on them, and soon a small council is formed, including Ridqeck and Gainswood, who's now allowed to walk freely around. Edith and the Drow both agree they should try it, while Oleg himself is afraid the demons might find the portal and thus populate whatever new world they plan to escape to. Others believe that if the demons are strong enough to defeat the elves, they would then have an even worse enemy to fight through. Also, their resources don't allow them to hang back for long and wait for others to fight it out. They decide to start the march south at once, while Oleg tries to sleep through his terrible thirst, suspected to be caused by swimming through the pool of the Water of Life in Swennegal. He says he will try to lead the demons to the city through a different route, but in truth is planning to lead them away. As he falls asleep and returns to Hvalnus' body, he finds it mutilated and splayed open, tied to a pole at the front of their regiment. Dead, but somehow he's still inside. He tries to cast True Ressurection on his own corpse, and miraculously, the old, uncorrupted Arch Druid awakens – in his old, high elf splendor. It is Oleg inside, however, and he feels the body's old inhabitant slip away, wishing him well, hoping he'll be able to do what the elf couldn't. Oleg tries to speak to the rest of the Coterie, to awaken the old humanity in them. It almost works on 98, but some phantom version of Prince Auburn appears, convincing him to keep feeding. They all attack Oleg-Vinroris, and he barely escapes in the form of a dragon. As the Resistance and their allies are trudging through the steep, snow covered mountains of Barricade, they spot a dragon on the horizon. Oleg says hi. Everyone is confused. His old body lies unconscious on one of the sleds, fed Water of Life from the Baron's goblet, drooling and slipping further away every minute. He realizes if he wants to keep in control of this new, more powerful body, he must let the old one go. Thus Oleg, the human druid, dies. He knows what he has to do. This time, the demons were already at Bastion, closing in with terrifying speed. Still in the form of a dragon, he takes off, ready to sacrifice his life to draw the Coterie away long enough for his friends to hopefully go through the portal and escape. Oleg gone, the rest peer over the top of the cliffs. Hundreds, maybe thousands of glowing spider creatures are waiting on them, unable to climb the hills but ready to attack the minute they come down. Ridqeck recognizes the glow as the same one powering the ship, meaning it will probably not even hurt them. They need a new plan. Gainswood steps forward, and explains The March always had a plan B, using the sunstone to keep him alive even if defeated, hoping Kee's hatred for him would lead to them taking his "corpse" inside the Dome. There, he would act as a Trojan horse and open the gates from inside. Perhaps, with a small enough task force, they could achieve something similar. The ship may only carry 4 people, but with Longreach they can go up to six. A task force is assembled, with the bravest warriors of the realm: * Edith Ra * Ridqeck Gnomes, jr. * King Ycaron * Murmillo de Vara * Eddy Poole * Bryan Gainswood The Baron, having just lost his friend, and seeing his King go ahead, only demons left behind, decides to pull on some levitation boots he's gotten his old creepy hands on and follow right behind. The ship takes off, flying far above the spiders, heading toward the Domed City. Alone, awaking amidst the ruins of New Rope in his new body, Oleg feels someone touch his shoulder. The smiling face of Prince Auburn appears before him. Whispering that he is greatly anticipating getting to know this new character. Morass summary Lhoris returns from his audience with Lady Gilwyn, having reached some agreement. He is sombre, and reluctant to share the details. He promises, though, that young Lilgo will be returned to them. And Ulur. He tells his brother he loves him, and whispers to Omako that he will probably not return, asking him to immediately start looking for the portal whenever the elves leave them an opening. Then he leaves. In the armory of the High Elves, he is coated with the same iron armor Har'tovh Kee used to wear, welded to his body. Strange blue light glows as Lhoris Shallan is turned into a superweapon for the elves, ready to fight in the Battle of the Southern Wastes.